Sex in China: Abortion, Infection and Lack of Education

A participant hugs a condom mascot during an event to promote awareness of HIV testing ahead of the Dec 1 World AIDS day in Beijing, China, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014.

Associated Press

The World Health Organization is launching a new sex education campaign in China, which is facing a sex problem.

The country’s youth are hit with unwanted pregnancy, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, according to the WHO. One in every five sexually active young women has an unplanned pregnancy in China -- and the vast majority of those pregnancies result in abortion, the WHO said in a recent statement.

Nearly a quarter of Chinese people between the ages of 15 and 24 have had sex and at least a third of them didn’t use any form of contraception, the WHO said. Last year, nearly 500,000 cases of syphilis and 70,000 new cases of HIV were reported in China, with sexual transmission responsible for 90% of the new HIV cases, the WHO said.

Economic development has sparked sexual liberation of in a country where sex has typically been a taboo topic. But sex education lags the average person’s development, health experts say. While taught in some classrooms, sex education is not widely available across China.

Education leaders’ attempts to formalize it have sparked social debate and led to standstill. Last year in the central city of Wuhan, some parents disputed local schools’ use of a textbook for 10 year-olds that expanded beyond the usual anatomy lesson, explaining puberty and reproduction, according to local media reports.

Zhejiang University in the eastern city of Hangzhou took heat earlier this year when it installed free condom dispensers on the campus. According to a report from the state-run Global Times, parents and even students claimed it encouraged sex and "contaminated the school's atmosphere." The university's move was part of a broader local government plan to prevent disease by installing dispensers at 128 universities in the province.

This week the WHO plans to kickstart a conversation about safe sex, pumping China’s social media with factual information about condom use and how to prevent unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease.

Health experts say that the problems are mounting as more and more young people are experimenting with premarital sex, which was deemed an illegal “hooliganism” act until 1997. Sexologist Li Yinhe says that in 1989, surveys showed that only 15% of citizens reported having premarital sex -- and mostly with permanent partners. Now times have changed. Recent surveys show that 71% are having sex before marriage, Ms. Li says.

Coupled with the lack of education, the rise in premarital sex is creating the perfect storm, health experts say.

Youth in China are having sex “without the knowledge and information that can help protect them from the risks of unsafe sex – like unplanned pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – with sometimes devastating consequences,” Bernhard Schwartländer, the WHO’s China representative, said in the statement.